A Hope and a Prayer Blog Tour and Book Review

About the Book

She’s in love with her best friend.
He’s in love with her cousin.
But when the war reveals a gift so rare,
will they be saved by a hope and a prayer?

As Head Nurse at 2d Hospital in Nancy, France, Lieutenant Hope Dennehy is known for her healing touch, especially when it comes to mending the wounds and spirit of her best friend, Lieutenant Bren O’Neill. When Hope’s cousin breaks Bren’s heart, Hope is always there, helping to heal him with a friendship so anointed and deep, it threatens to break her heart too.

Flying high as a daredevil aeromedical evac pilot in the European Theatre, “Lieutenant Love” O’Neill crashes and burns when the woman he loves falls for another. Depending on the support and prayers of Nurse Hope Dennehy to save him, Bren re-evaluates his free-wheeling lifestyle when he witnesses the heinous atrocities of the Buchenwald concentration camp. Suddenly nothing in life is as important as taking care of those he loves … or is it? Battling demons from his past, Bren learns that only one thing can truly save him from himself.

My Thoughts

So, life has gotten in the way since I requested to be on this tour. 🙁 I simply ADORE Julie’s books, and having just read A Wing and a Prayer, I simply had to know how Bren’s story would continue. (No major spoilers, but the first book ends with him about to get his heart broken.) I have not read all of A Hope and a Prayer yet, but I’m getting close and once I finish, I’ll come back here for an updated review.

For now, I can say that I am loving it so far. Hope has the patience of a saint; hence, her nickname of “St. Hope.” If I had been in her shoes, I don’t know if I would’ve stuck around so long with a “best friend” who was a drinking womanizer. The line would have been drawn after the second incident, but Hope’s circle of friends is small and the war has drawn all of them closer together. Bren’s nickname of “Lieutenant Love” is incredibly appropriate, and I think his “rock bottom wake up call” is just around the corner. I’m also loving the addition of a sweet little boy named Max who has Bren as his guardian.

If you’ve read Julie’s books before, you KNOW that they are full of passion with characters that seem as real as flesh and blood. A Hope and a Prayer is no different!

Full review to come!

Full Book Review

If you can’t take the heat, stay outta the kitchen! Julie Lessman has delivered another passionate love story that will have you fanning your face and saying “Have mercy!”

Bren and Hope are two characters that are made for each other from the very beginning, but both insist they are nothing more than each other’s “best friends.” In my neck of the woods, that’s code for “one of us is waiting for the other to realize somebody’s in love.” Both of ’em needed to be whacked on the side of the head with a 2×4 (maybe a couple of times), particularly Bren because he is some kind of hardheaded.

Julie definitely pushes the envelope here with the romance, and way more than she has done with some of her earlier novels. Now that she’s publishing independently, it’s evident that she has more freedom with her words, yet there’s nothing here that’s inappropriate. I believe that God created all of us with a heart to love, and if we have the opportunity to share that love intimately with another person (like Julie shows through these characters), then we can experience how deeply God loves us, too.

I am on pins and needles to read more about Henry as well as the conclusions of the Gabe and Hope’s relationships (translation = I need book 3 STAT!) So Julie – take your time, but not too much. 😉

4.5 Stars

**There’s a chance that I might have a couple of jewelry/bookmark designs for this book! Cross your fingers!

Julie’s Bio:

A lover of all things Irish, Julie Lessman writes close-knit Irish family sagas that evolve into 3-D love stories: the hero, the heroine, and the God that brings them together.

Author of The Daughters of Boston, Winds of Change, Heart of San Francisco, Isle of Hope, Silver Lining Ranch, and The Cousins O’Connor series, Julie was American Christian Fiction Writers 2009 Debut Author of the Year and has garnered over 21 Romance Writers of America and other awards. Voted #1 Romance Author in Family Fiction magazine’s 2012 and 2011 Reader’s Choice Awards, Julie’s novels also made Family Fiction magazine’s Best of 2015, Best of 2014, and “Essential Christian Romance Authors” 2017-2020, as well as Booklist’s 2010 Top 10 Inspirational Fiction and Borders Best Fiction.

Julie has also written a self-help workbook for writers entitled Romance-ology 101: Writing Romantic Tension for the Sweet and Inspirational Markets. Contact Julie through her website at www.julielessman.com.

Julie has been hosting giveaways LEFT AND RIGHT, and so you simply must read her note below for those who are following the blog tour.

---

Are you ready for MORE giveaways GALORE???

Well, I sure am, so join me OCTOBER 1-14, 2022 for my 2-week blog tour on A HOPE AND A PRAYER, where I will not only be giving away a free e-copy to one commenter on each of 14 stops (14 e-books giveaway!).

GRAND-PRIZE GIVEAWAY! Then I’ll toss all those names in a hat for an Amazon gift card, a signed paperback copy of A Hope and a Prayer or a signed paperback copy of any of my indie books or a book by a top CBA author, and a character named after you or a loved one in my next book!

Here’s the list of bloggers on the tour, so visit each one on or after their date to leave a comment, and you’re automatically in the draw, so good luck! Contest ends 10/15, and winners will be announced right here on her Journal Jots blog shortly thereafter.

BLOG TOUR DATES:

1. October 1 – https://readingismysuperpower.org/2022/10/01/book-spotlight-and-a-giveaway-a-hope-and-a-prayer-by-julie-lessman/
2. October 2 – https://myfavoritepastime.blogspot.com/2022/10/a-hope-and-prayer-by-julie-lessman.html
3. October 3 – (New-release spotlight) https://www.graceajohnson.com/post/new-release-a-hope-and-a-prayer-by-julie-lessman
4. October 4 – https://novelscorner.wordpress.com/2022/10/01/a-hope-and-a-prayer/
5. October 5 – https://www.literaryscape.com/literaryscape-book-club
6. October 6 – http://misspippireads.blogspot.com/
7. October 7 – https://readingismysuperpower.org/2022/10/07/book-review-and-a-giveaway-a-hope-and-a-prayer-by-julie-lessman/
8. October 8 – (Live-stream on CrowdCast) https://rumble.com/v1n60m2-live-q-and-a-with-author-julie-lessman-replay.html
9. October 9 – https://brittreadsfiction.wordpress.com/2022/10/09/blog-tour-review-giveaway-a-hope-and-a-prayer-by-julie-lessman/
10. October 10 – https://sarainawhitney.wordpress.com/blog/
11. October 10 — http://frommipov.blogspot.com/2022/10/a-hope-and-prayer-cousins-oconnor-2-by.html
12. October 11– https://splashesofjoy.wordpress.com/2022/10/11/blog-tour-and-giveaway-a-hope-and-a-prayer-by-julie-lessman/
13. October 12 – https://kellybridgewater.blogspot.com/
14. October 13 – https://flakymn.blogspot.com/
15. October 14 – https://blissbooksandjewels.com/